Ignoring his shockingly low 32% (as of December 2007) approval rating, Bush traveled to Abu Dhabi this weekend to urge Arabs to join his campaign against Iran. Speaking to a crowd at the luxurious Emirates Palace hotel, Bush made perhaps the most ironic statement ever spoken by a politician:

“This new era is being built with the understanding that power is a trust that must be exercised with the consent of the governed,” Bush said.

While explaining that the United States has no interest in taking control of any part of the Mideast, Bush declared that the world can only be free and stable when “the extremists are marginalized.” He went on to insist that democracy is the only way to achieve “peace and stability,” re-invoking his temporarily waylaid “Freedom Agenda”: the administration’s scheme to bring democracy to all nations whether they like it or not.

Where have we heard this “it’s for your own good” shtick before? Last year, Naomi Wolf wrote an insightful article positing that there are ten steps to bring down any democracy, and Bush has initiated all of them. While it may be a bit of a stretch to compare Bush to Mussolini or Hitler, it’s not hard to see where Wolf is coming from. Little by little, we are made to fear common enemies and told that questioning this agenda is downright anti-American.

Bush claims that his campaign against Iran is a simply in the interest of security and human rights, adding that Iranians deserve to live under a government that “listens to [their] wishes.” Which begs the question - why don’t Americans?